Who owns a concert ticket? Buyer beware, it now depends on fine print

GRAND RAPIDS, MI – Who owns a concert ticket? After purchase, most concert-goers would argue they do. But restricted tickets are changing the rules.

About a third of the seats to Kid Rock's Van Andel Arena show last week in Grand Rapids were sold as restricted tickets, which required a photo ID at the venue to gain admittance, meaning they cannot be gifted or resold by the buyer.

The practice of restricted, or paperless, tickets is becoming more common in Michigan and nationwide as a means of controlling scalping and resale. But opponents say it's an opportunity for large ticket sellers and distributors to control the secondary market.

How it works

The process works like this: Tickets are purchased but cannot be printed. The paperless tickets must be picked up at the venue with the credit card used to purchase them and a valid photo ID for the cardholder. If you bought the ticket, you have to use it.

Will there be a day when tickets like these are a thing of the past?MLive.com File Photo

Fans who have restricted tickets and run into scheduling conflicts could end up with tickets that they can’t use, can’t sell and can’t even give away.

Ticketmaster is leading the way, arguing restrictive tickets protect fans from scalpers. Restrictive tickets give fans "greater access to face-value tickets and enhanced protection against (fraud)," according to FansFirstCoalition.org, which is primarily supported by Ticketmaster.

“There are better ways to solve the problem of scalping and secondary markets without taking away ticket ownership from fans," FanFreedom.org argues. "(Ticketmaster) hates that they have to watch money changing hands, without any of it going into their pockets. That’s why they invented the ‘convenience’ of paperless tickets.”

“We have a contract with Ticketmaster but it’s all on the tour management. If they want it, we do it," said Lynne Ike, director of marketing for Van Andel Arena. “We are pro-paperless ticketing. You don’t get as many out-of-state ticket buyers that are obviously buying up blocks of tickets for secondary markets.”

“Personally, I think it would be great to see an entire concert with paperless tickets. Our patrons would pay a good ticket price versus extravagant prices that scalpers get away with. We get paid for the tickets whether purchased by scalpers or fans. But the experience would be better for fans if there was a way to eliminate the secondary market.”

On Facebook, fans debated the pros and cons of restricted tickets as face value seats to events like Kid Rock's concert or the Detroit Tigers opening day game are increasingly harder to find.

"I'd take restricted tickets in the 100 level of Comerica Park any day of the week," over inflated StubHub prices, wrote Craig Groff-Folsom, of Grand Rapids.

Others suggested Ticketmaster should reduce its prices and fees or accommodate refunds or resale back to the provider.

Ike said at least one Kid Rock fan in Grand Rapids last week presented a duplicate ticket for which she had paid "well over face value."

"Her options were either to go home or find someplace to stand," Ike said. "If tickets are purchased from Ticketmaster (or a secondary site owned by Ticketmaster), we have a better chance of helping someone with refunds."

Secondary markets: helping or hurting?

Some say secondary markets owned by Ticketmaster are exactly why restricted tickets are showing up in the first place.

Chris Grimm, communications director for FanFreedom.org, says ownership of the ticket should reside with the fans making the purchase.

“When we buy tickets we should own them and have complete control over them,” Grimm said. “Restricted tickets create a mini-monopoly where they control every sale, every resale, and every transfer of ticket. Since there’s little competition, they can charge whatever fees they like.”

Grimm says the paperless system treats every fan like a scalper.

Tim MacLam shows the Bob Dylan/Willie Nelson concert tickets he purchased Saturday morning at Fifth Third Ballpark. He waited in line for two hours to be one of the first.MLive.com File Photo

“Those making purchases already face tickets being non-transferable, limits on how many they can purchase, and typing in captchas (those slanted letters users type in to confirm the buyer is human). This next step is where we think ticketing is heading. It totally eliminates free market, fans choices, competition, and property rights,” Grimm said.

Linda Teeter of Michigan Citizen Action, which supports FanFreedom.org, says “We think there needs to be more awareness at the point of purchase so people aren’t surprised with the lack of transferability”.

“Buyers need to read the fine print. At the same time we would like the venues to be more upfront about how many seats are actually available to the general public. Fan clubs get first shot, plus the venue may hold back some tickets, and then what is invisible to the person sitting at their computer trying to buy a ticket are these software bots that immediately buy them all up,” Teeter said.

Legislation that died last year in Michigan had suggested a three-tier alternative to restricted ticketing that would outlaw ticket-buying software bots, prohibit restriction of transferability and increase consumer protections.